As the
CBEC has started the implementation of Cadre Restructuring without taking care
of regional disparity in promotion to the grade of Superintendent, it is high
time to fight for our genuine demands. We are not opposing Cadre
Restructuring as a whole but CR will not be acceptable to us when it does not
address regional disparity among 15 Cadre Controlling Authority and stagnation
in the Cadre. In view of the above, a meeting of all Office-Bearers of
the National Body of the AICEIA has been fixed on 06.09.2014 at New Delhi to discuss
the problem and our line of action. You are,
therefore, requested to send your views on the matter. Meanwhile, some
correspondences have been made with the Chairperson, CBEC and Hon'ble Minister
of State for Finance, Govt. of India on 20.08.2014, copy of the same are
reproduced on the blog:-
Letter to Hon'ble MOS (Finance)
F.No.
AICEIA/CBEC/CR/2014/12 Date:20.08.2014
To
The Hon’ble Minister of State for Finance,
Government of India,
North Block,
New Delhi-110001.
Sub:
-Cadre Restructuring – Regional Disparities in Promotions of Central Excise
Inspectors to
Superintendents – Extreme
Disappointment of Cadre at Continuing Grave Injustice.
Madam,
Please refer to
Association’s letters AICEIA/CBEC/2014 dated 18.06.2014 and F.No.
AICEIA/CBEC/CR/2014/10 dated 05.08.2014 on above subject.
In this regard,
the following points are submitted for favor of kind attention and
consideration please:-
1. Inspectors of Central Excise, having Sanctioned Strength of 17749
(excluding SEZ) [new sanctioned strength after Cadre Restructuring is 20638],
forms the largest and most important nervous system of the indirect tax
administration headed by CBEC, is unfortunately also the most deprived in
respect of prospects for career advancement.
2. This
cadre is extremely demoralized and agitated because of their poor
promotional prospects. The majority
of the Officers recruited as Inspectors have to retire as Superintendents
of Central Excise with just one promotion in their entire career of 35-38
years.
3. Such
poor promotional avenues is totally contrary to the promotional prospects
of the cadres of Inspectors of
Income Tax, Preventive Officer, Examiners and Assistant in Central
Secretariat Service who are recruited through the same common examination
conducted by the Staff Selection Commission but who get 3/4/5 promotions.
4. This
cadre is facing huge regional disparities in promotions among the 15 Cadre
Control Zones. Inspectors joined in
the year 1989 in Shillong Zone, 1992-1995 in Mumbai, Rajasthan, Lucknow,
Bhopal, Kolkata, Chennai etc. are yet to get their first promotion whereas
in Delhi, Bhubaneshwar etc. Inspectors joined in the year 2002 are getting
promotion to the grade of Superintendent. It causes irreparable damage to
the Department as whole by way of increasing humiliation and
demoralization among the major work-force of the CBEC i.e. Inspectors Central Excise.
5. CBEC notified the allocation of personnel to various
formations as part of the CR exercise vide F.No. A 11019/08/2013-AD. IV
dated 01.08.2014 without first resolving the issues of regional
disparities in promotions of Inspectors to the Superintendent of Central
Excise. It is also pertinent to
mention here that the most stagnated zones have got few posts of
Superintendent e.g. Shillong approx.
46 posts, Cochin 10 posts, Kolkata 25 posts, Lucknow 105 posts, Jaipur 137
posts etc. whereas the Inspectors of 1989 to 1995 are yet to get their
first promotion. If the posts of Superintendent vacated by way of
promotion to the grade of Assistant Commissioner will also be counted, the
problem of stagnation will continue to haunt the Inspectors of these
stagnated zones. In better placed
zones like Delhi and Bhubaneshwar where Inspectors of 2002 are already
getting promotions have got approx. 850 posts and 147 posts respectively. These figures clearly indicate that the
regional disparity will increase with greater degree after Cadre
Restructuring if we do not address it this time.
The
remedial actions to eradicate stagnation, regional disparity, poor promotional
avenues etc. were submitted time to time by the AICEIA to the Board and were
also intimated vide our letter Ref. No. AICEIA/CBEC/Prom Disparities/2014 dated
10.02.2014, AICEIA/Admin/2014/02 dated 09.07.2014, AICEIA/Merger.HRD/2014/06
dated 15.07.2014, AICEIA/CBEC/Resolutions/2014 dated 23.07.2014 and
AICEIA/CBEC/CR/2014/10 dated 05.08.2014 (copies enclosed). We, hereby, submit some remedial actions (in
brief) to eradicate regional disparity in promotion for your kind perusal, and
appropriate directions to the CBEC for implementation of the same before Cadre
Restructuring are implemented in the CBEC:-
1. Filling
up of vacancies of the post of Superintendents of Central Excise arising out of
the ongoing Cadre Restructuring exercise in the CBEC must be done in a manner
which permanently removes the disparities among the 15 Cadre Control Zones in
promotions of Inspectors to the Superintendent of Central Excise.
2.
Seniority
of Inspectors must be drawn on All India basis: - On 9.12.1996 Hon’ble Apex
Court pronounced the judgment in case of Radhey Shyam Singh & Others Vs
Union of India & Others and quashed the Zonal Selection Process and
directed to Conduct the examinations on All India Basis and thereby make
selection on the basis of All India Merit List.
Hence, an All India Seniority of Inspectors must be adopted effective
1996 before implementation of Cadre Restructuring, which is also mandated by
the DoPT’s OM dated 1986. in the light
of guidelines on Seniority Policy under DOPT’s O.M. No. 35014/2/80-Estt.(D)
dated 7.2.1986 & O.M. No 22011/7/1986-Esstt. Dated 03/07/1986, no junior in
selection made through ‘All-India-merit-list’ should be promoted before his/her
senior of the same list. For the same, Seniority of Inspectors must be drawn on
All India basis. All India Seniority of Inspectors CE since
1996 batch (joined in 2003) is the only legitimate and judicious way out to
eradicate intra-cadre disparity in promotion of Inspector CE to the post of
Superintendent CE among different CCAs. This can easily be done by way of
promoting all the Inspectors CE who belongs to Zonal-Selection process i.e.
appointed prior to the above said judgment and for the All India Selection
batches, All India Seniority can be done, without creating any administrative
and statutory/legal crisis.
It
is also to submit that if Cadre Restructuring in CBEC is attempted to be
implemented without addressing the acute stagnation and huge disparity in
promotions from Inspectors to Superintendents of Central Excise across
different Zones, the problems will only aggravate further. If the junior
Inspectors from better placed Zones are promoted ahead of their seniors from
badly stagnating Zones while filling up thousands of vacancies in the grade of
Superintendents of Central Excise arising out of Cadre Restructuring, may lead
to flood of litigation and court cases all along. Hence, it is matter of prime importance to
address the genuine grievance of the cadre and avoid any future suffering of
Inspectors.
It
is, therefore, requested to kindly intervene into the matter to prevail justice
to the largest cadre of the CBEC.
Thanking
you.
Encl. As above (Thirteen sheets)
Yours faithfully,
(Abhishek Kamal)
Secretary General
Letter to Chairperson, CBEC
F.No.
AICEIA/CBEC/CR/2014/11 Date: 20.08.2014
To
The Chairperson,
Central
Board of Excise & Customs,
North
Block, New Delhi-1.
Sub:
-Cadre Restructuring – Regional Disparities in Promotions of Central Excise Inspectors
to
Superintendents – Extreme
Disappointment of Cadre at Continuing Grave Injustice.
Madam,
Please
refer to Association’s letter F. No. AICEIA/CBEC/CR/2014/10 dated 05.08.2014 on
above subject.
In context to our
above mentioned letter, this Association once again invites your kind attention
to our demands, we have been raising repeatedly and insistently i.e. to address
the regional disparity in promotion of Inspectors of Central Excise to the
grade of Superintendent of Central Excise among 15 Cadre Controlling Zones of
Central Excise. In our above mentioned
letter dated 05.08.2014 (copy enclosed), we have submitted all important
correspondences related to redressal of zonal disparities in promotion to the
grade of the Superintendent.
A study Group hasp recently been formed vide DGHRD letter F.No.
8/B/194/HRD (HRM)/2013 dated 04.07.2014 to study acute stagnation, intra/inter
cadre disparity in promotion in Group-B Executive Grades. Its first meeting held on 31.07.2014 and the
committee has not completed its study on the subject and the Board has rolled
out the implementation of CR without taking consideration of regional disparity
and the report of the study group. If
promotion will be given to any junior Inspector posted at well placed zone
before their seniors posted at stagnated zone without implementation of All
India Seniority, there will be no meaning of the Study Group. It is high time to get away of regional
disparity when we have a large numbers of post of Superintendent in hand.
In view of the above, it is once again requested that the
vacancies in the grade of Superintendents allocated to various zones should be
filled only in the manner that Senior Inspectors from any zones should be
promoted ahead of Inspectors who are junior to them from any other zone, which
will at least enable their seniority in the lower cadre to be protected when
seniority as Superintendents is reckoned, which as per extant provisions is on
an All India basis, and the date of joining as Superintendent is the criterion
for determining inter-se seniority of Superintendents. In the light of
guidelines on Seniority Policy under DOPT’s O.M. No. 35014/2/80-Estt.(D) dated
7.2.1986 & O.M. No 22011/7/1986-Esstt. Dated 03/07/1986, no junior in selection
made through ‘All-India-merit-list’ should be promoted before his/her senior of
the same list. For the same, Seniority
of Inspectors must be drawn on All India basis. All India Seniority of Inspectors CE since
1996 batch (joined in 2003) is the only legitimate and judicious way out to
eradicate intra-cadre disparity in promotion of Inspector CE to the post of
Superintendent CE among different CCAs. This can easily be done by way of
promoting all the Inspectors of Central Excise who belongs to Zonal-Selection
process i.e. appointed prior to the above said judgment and for the All India
Selection batches, All India Seniority can be done, without creating any
administrative and statutory/legal crisis.
This Association has continuously been pointed out its concerns in all written and oral submissions before the office side. As a responsible recognized Service Association, we extended out full co-operation by way of supporting all types of solutions to solve the critical problems of this cadre but for seer dismay to this cadre the office side has no space for the points raised by the staff side as they unilaterally went ahead with the way they wish. At this juncture, the members of this cadre are forced to ponder that whether the Board considers this cadre as part of the department or not. So, it is our responsibility to once again convey you that disappointed and demoralized cadre will never be good for any administration and non-redressal of the acute disparity in promotion will make members more agitated.
Madam, in order to achieve better results for our
country, it is necessary to build a great organization with committed &
dedicated work force. For making that
type of organization, effective redressal of grievances of largest work force of
CBEC i.e. Inspector Cadre is essential pre-requisite. Hence, it is once again requested to give an
appointment at your earliest convenience so that we may present our concerns
before you in person and suggest workable solutions to the problems, Cadre is
facing.
Thanking
you.
Encl.
As above (Two sheets)
Yours
faithfully,
(Abhishek Kamal)
Secretary General
Copy submitted to:-
1.
The Hon’ble Union Minister of
State for Finance, North Block, New Delhi with a request for an appropriate
intervention in the matter.
2.
The Revenue Secretary, Govt. of
India, North Block, New Delhi.
(Abhishek Kamal)
Secretary General
